Calif. has 1.4 million new voters

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SACRAMENTO, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- More than 1.4 million new voters have registered in California this year, with half taking advantage of new online registration, officials say.

The Golden State now has more than 18 million people eligible to cast ballots in Tuesday's presidential election, the Los Angeles Times reported. That is higher than the previous record number of voters, 17.3 million in early 2009.

Political Data Inc., a bipartisan consulting firm, said the newly registered voters tend to be younger than other California voters. Twice as many registered as Democrats than as Republicans, while about one-third of the group did not have a party preference or chose a minority party.

The number of Democrats increased in many congressional districts, the firm said.

The law allowing Californians to register online took effect six weeks ago. The Democratic legislature passed it as some Republican-majority legislatures around the country adopted laws requiring voters to show government-issued photo ID at the polls.